FEBRUARY 16 - FLIGHT TO AMMAN, JORDAN

Our flight to Amman, Jordan, was at 1:15 p.m. from Cairo International Airport.  After breakfast at the Four Seasons Hotel, we met our Tour Director, Hossam, in the lobby, our bags having been brought down already, and we left the hotel for the trip to the airport.  In typical A&K fashion, Hossam navigated us and our luggage through the airport, including security and then the check-in counter.  He checked our bags, gave us our boarding tickets and took us to the final security check (which he could not pass through) and pointed us in the direction of our boarding gate.  

We waited for our departure in the lounge and then boarded the aircraft to Amman, the capital of Jordan, enjoying a lovely meal on the way.

 

Royal Jordanian Air flight attendants have beautiful uniforms - bright red jackets and skirts with gorgeous hats, which they removed once we were in the air.  While they wore masks, there were no announcements that passengers were required to wear masks and there were some who boarded the plane without one.  

A little over an hour later, we arrived at Queen Alia International Airport in Amman and proceeded to the arrivals corridor where we were required to taken yet another CCP virus test.  (Remember, we had just taken one in Cairo on the 13th.)  

Finishing up with that, we proceeded through the arrival area and, after just a few minutes, A&K's representative, Khalid, met us and directed us through the immigration process.  

We met prior to approaching the Immigration Counter and he provided us with the manifest required to obtain an entry visa.  We then proceeded to the Immigration Counter - a VIP counter separate from all the other passengers in the terminal - to have our passport and manifest stamped.  Although fingerprints were not taken, photographs were taken of us AND retinal scanning which we've never had done before.  I only wish our own government was more diligent about who is arriving in our country!  

After retrieving our luggage, Khalid escorted us out of the baggage claim area to our vehicle where we met our guide for our time in Jordan, Zak, and our driver, Mohammad.  

According to our itinerary, "the vibrant, modern capital of Amman, sits perched atop seven majestic hills in the northeastern corner of Jordan.  The city's west end is a sophisticated residential district of cafes, bars, malls and galleries, while the east side of town moves to a more traditional, conservative beat.  In the center of it all lies a lively, bustling downtown, where mosques, souks and coffeehouses sit equally at home among ruins lingering from Roman times." 

We dropped Khalid off along the way and proceeded to the Four Seasons Hotel where we stayed for two nights.  

Gorgeous hotel and very hi-tech rooms - so hi-tech that it took a while to figure out how to turn on the lights!

Zak checked us in to the hotel and discussed with us the plan for the next few days.  Tomorrow we'd meet him in the lobby at 8:30 a.m. for our trip to Jerash but tonight we'd be on own own for dinner.  Saying our good-byes for the day, we decided to acquaint ourselves with the hotel and have dinner in one of the restaurants.  

Again, the hotel is extremely hi-tech and when we tried to check the menus of the different restaurants on the tv, the menus could only be accessed by a QR Scanner neither one of us had on our phones.  (As I've said before, my phone is a phone.  I do very little on my phone except use it as a phone and for texting - which I don't prefer to do.)  

Anyway, I decided to go to the lobby to the restaurant we were interested in and asked to see a paper menu.  Well, there wasn't even a paper menu at the restaurant!  I explained to the lovely hostess that I was old and that I don't QR scan anything;  she graciously opened her own phone and showed me the menu which looked absolutely fantastic.  I turned around, went upstairs and reported back to Michael that he'll love the options available.  

We cleaned up, got dressed and went back downstairs to enjoy a lovely dinner at the Five Grill & Lounge.  We opted for an inside table because there were a lot of smokers sitting in the outside area.   

After dinner and a walk around the hotel, we reviewed our itinerary for the coming days and were very excited at what we'd be seeing.  We had been to Petra, Jordan, during our 2016 World Cruise and were looking forward to going back in a couple of days.  But, in the meanwhile, tomorrow was going to be a big day.